Tessa's Recipe Rundown...

Taste: Spiced sweetness that isn’t cloying or overwhelming.Texture: The bars are thick and soft without being overly cakey. The frosting is luscious and creamy with a slight crunch from the brown sugar. It’s kind of like cookie dough!Ease: Super easy, just dirties a few dishes.Appearance: Beautiful!Pros: Easy and crowd pleasing fall treat.Cons: None.Would I make this again? Absolutely!

In staring at the screen trying to decide what I want to say about these incredible Pumpkin Bars with Brown Sugar Frosting I got lost down a black hole.

I totally just fell into the internet trap. Suddenly I found myself drowning in a 10 minute Facebook abyss. Please tell me this happens to you too. I swear time stops when I find these distractions! I can be staring at the screen trying to work on something for a few minutes and it feels like an eternity passed. Then what feels like a few minutes on Facebook, Pinterest, or any celebrity gossip rag and an hour can pass like NOTHING. It’s actually kind of alarming.

Luckily I caught myself this time and forced my computer mouse to close out of all extra tabs. Well, except maybe one or two. I had to get back to this pumpkin recipe because I just gotta tell you how bad you need to make these. Firstly, they make your house smell like autumn on crack. Secondly, they are a total crowd pleaser. So much so that I can pretty much guarantee everyone will want seconds. You may need to double the recipe!

Directions

To make the bars:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a 8 by 8-inch baking pan with foil or parchment paper, leaving an overhang.

In a large bowl combine the flour, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, baking soda and salt.

In another medium bowl whisk together the butter, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, and pumpkin. Add the butter mixture to the flour mixture, stirring until just combined. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Be careful not to overbake. Set the pan on a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the frosting:

In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the butter and brown sugar on medium-high speed until light, fluffy, and smooth. Add in the cinnamon and salt. On low speed gradually add in the powered sugar until incorporated. Add in the vanilla and milk and increase the speed to medium-high. Beat until very light and fluffy. If too runny, add more powered sugar, If too thick, add more milk. Spread evenly all over the pumpkin bars.

Cut into squares before serving. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 day or in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Recipe Notes

This recipe is easily doubled for a crowd!

Course:
Dessert

Cuisine:
American

If you make this recipe, be sure to snap a picture and share it on Instagram with #handletheheat so we can all see!

Recipe byTessa

About Tessa...

I share trusted baking recipes your friends will LOVE alongside insights into the science of sweets. I'm a professionally trained chef, cookbook author, and cookie queen. I love to write about all things sweet, carb-y, and homemade. I live in Phoenix, Arizona (hence the blog name!)

40 Responses to “Pumpkin Bars with Brown Sugar Frosting”

I need to make these, like, yesterday. They look so amazing! Also – a 10 minute FB suck is nothing! Ugh – it’s so bad! I’ll go on FB to look something up and 20 minutes later I don’t know what I came there for anymore!

Have you tried to make the bar base with browned butter instead of melted butter? I’m wondering, with all the autumnal spices, if you can still taste the difference from browning the butter instead? Either way, these bars will be happening in my kitchen tonight!

Tessa – What size pan would you use for a doubled recipe to keep the same thickness? I want to bring these to work and KNOW they will be inhaled instantly, as I work in a hospital unit. “Autumn on crack”, too funny! Love your site!

I made these and the texture of the cake was amazing! I didn’t make the frosting. The cake didn’t have enough spice for me, I think I will add more next time… Maybe it’s the brand I’m using. Also the cake cooked lumpy on top, I would have to smooth it out perfectly to make sure it was even and smooth. Other than that, great and easy recipe that I will make again.

Has anybody doubled this recipe successfully? 🙂 I read in another comment that you can use a 9 x13 but I’m wondering if a half sheet would work ir if that would make them too thin. Also, do you bake for the same amount of time if you double it? Help! Thank you.

I just made these yesterday. I accidentally broke it in half before icing, so the portion that didn’t become bars were mixed with the icing and dipped in chocolate. My husband went crazy over it! So far, Tessa, every recipe I’ve tried from you has been golden!

I made them tonight and turned them into cupcakes. Baked for 14 minutes.
They turned out terrible. Maybe just my taste but they were not sweet at all and pretty gross.
But, to answer the question, YES you can bake them as cupcakes.

I made these today. The flavor is perfect and the frosting is great. However, the cake needs to bake for much longer than 25 minutes. I baked it for almost 30 and the toothpick was still coming out pretty wet, but because of the warning I decided to take it out anyway – big mistake. The only edible part was the outside edges. Disappointing after all of that effort.

Can you bake the bars ahead and freeze them (sans icing of course)? I have a cup of puree to use up but just made 5.5 dozen pumpkin muffins so don’t need the bars ATM. But reallllly want to try them!! Lol

OMG – what a great recipe! We grow our own pumpkins in our garden so I make my own puree and freeze them and take them out when I’m ready to use them. Since our new crop is almost ready, I decided to give this recipe a try with the puree still left in my freezer! WOW! What a great surprise! The texture of the bars are perfect and the frosting is to die for! I will surely keep this recipe for future use! Thank you so much! Absolutely yum!

Looks yummy! A good alternative to pumpkin pie…actually, pies in general, and cream cheese frosting (and all things cream cheese, which seems to be on almost everything). I’m probably the only person who dislikes both. And yes, I too get caught in the internet trap. I’ll get up, get on the computer, and then look at the clock wonder where all that time went! 😉

Very delicious! I didn’t have any nutmeg so I added 1/8 tsp. clove to the cake batter and i added more powdered sugar and milk to increase the volume of frosting. That’s the only changes I made and my hubby really liked it (and he’s picky)! Thanks for the great recipe, I will make this again!

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